


Red Satin & Black Dragonhide

by Hopeful_Puppy



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Veronica Mars (TV)
Genre: F/M, Female Harry Potter, Gen, Originally Posted on FanFiction.Net
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-19
Updated: 2015-09-24
Packaged: 2021-02-28 00:42:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22914946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hopeful_Puppy/pseuds/Hopeful_Puppy
Summary: Neptune High is the last place anyone would want to be, for one reason or another. It does attract some interesting characters though, particularly if you take into account the new English pauper in town. She's dressed to kill or be killed and only those in the know can see it... How wonderful.
Kudos: 8





	1. Beginning A Beautiful Friendship

* * *

“Madison, what the hell are you doing?”

“Why, Veronica Mars, I’m just showing the poor new girl all the sights there is to see in our beloved school,” Madison’s voice was sweet, but her voice could only be described as malicious.

Glancing for a second at the quiet figure beside her, Veronica could see where Madison got the word ‘poor’. The girl’s inky black hair was pulled into a messy bun, she wore no makeup and her clothes seemed old and worn. Veronica almost wrote her off as poor like Madison, until see saw the glimmer of a silver pearl necklace in the shape of a lily resting just below the girl’s collar bones. Her instincts, which had yet to lead her astray, screamed at her to make a closer observation. Turning to actually look at the girl, Veronica met a pair of emerald eyes that challenged her, dared her to write this new girl off with a glance. Never one to back down from a challenge now days, Veronica reassessed the girl.

Her hair wasn’t necessarily uncared for, just messy, like it was hurriedly taken out of her face and out of her way. Her clothes looked old and worn but admittedly, very comfortable. Her boots were scuffed, but there were no tears or rips to be seen. These boots were looked after, well used and looked comfortable enough to run in. Veronica tilted her head thinking that with squared shoulders, a ready stance and her shirt sleeves rolled up, this girl looked ready for a fight. A pink smirk lit up the girl’s face, answering Veronica’s thoughts. Veronica’s own quirk of the lips spread into a grin. _Things just got interesting._

“What are you grinning at, Mars?” Madison huffed.

As Veronica turned to Neptune High’s resident bitch, her grin became fixed and slightly sardonic;

“Oh, I’m just thinking about how Clemmons is going to react when he finds out you were going to bring her into the teacher’s lounge.”

Madison’s expression soured a bit but the malicious smile didn’t quite leave her face, “And how was I supposed to know she’d try to wander in there? Maybe she thought it was the bathroom? Maybe she wandered off?”

“Maybe, she is standing right here listening to this.”

The sound of a crisp clear and distinct British accent had Veronica and Madison turning to stare in surprise at the new girl, who had raised an eyebrow and was giving Madison a very flat stare.

“You’re English,” Madison stated dumbly.

“Yes. I’m English, not stupid. Unlike you, it seems,” was the exasperated reply.

Madison’s expression turned offended, “What-“

“Honestly,” the girl interrupted with a roll of her eyes, “I’m going to talk with every single one of my new teachers today and with Principle Clemmons at the end of it. Did it never occur to you that, at some point today, your less than stellar performance as my guide would be mentioned?”

Madison flipped her hair nonchalantly; “It’s your word against mine.”

Veronica opened her mouth to combat that comment, but the girl beat her to it; “Actually, it’s your word against the new girl’s, a witness and proof you’re a bitch.”

“What kind of proof?” Madison’s eyes sharpened.

“What kind do you need?” was the sweet reply.

“Listen, you little witch-“

Madison got up close and personal, in the girl’s face and then the girl was on the floor with a shout of painful surprise, her books and shoulder bag clattering to the ground with her. All movement in the hallway stopped for a moment. The girl looked up with tears in her green eyes, cradling her cheek in her hand. Veronica’s shocked expression switched from the girl on the floor to Madison, who looked equally as surprised. Crouching down and gathering her books and her bag, Veronica helped the new girl to her feet just as a teacher approached.

“What in heaven’s name is going on here?” she asked, though judging from the tearful girl in Veronica Mars arms looking fearfully in Madison Sinclair’s direction, it was pretty clear what seemed to have occurred.

“Ms. Sinclair?”

“I didn’t touch her,” the instant denial removed all doubt from the teacher’s mind.

“Ms. Mars, would you be kind enough to escort the young lady to the doctor’s office while I escort Ms. Sinclair to Mr. Clemmons?”

“Sure,” Veronica chirped and began leading her charge in the opposite direction to Madison’s increasingly loud denials.

“Do you really want to go to the doctor’s office?” Veronica quietly, keeping up appearances. The reply she received was equally soft.

“Yes.”

Veronica allowed confusion to cloud her features momentarily, before voicing her thoughts; “I never even saw her hand move.”

The girl looked up into Veronica’s face her hand still clutching her cheek and gave a watery smile before winking quickly and looking down again. Veronica hid a small smile of her own because as unjust as the girl’s actions were, Veronica got immense satisfaction from Madison’s suffering. Moments later, the girl was sitting on a chair in the doctor’s office, the doctor examining her cheek with Veronica watching from her place by the door.

“She doesn’t seem to have hit you that hard. It must have been the shock that sent you to the floor, huh?” the doctor asked with a smile. Receiving a soft, shy smile in response the doctor grinned and told them. “Well, you’re free to go. Stay out of trouble, alright? I don’t want to see a nice girl like you in here too often.”

The girl nodded as she stood, taking her bag and books from Veronica and followed the other girl out the door. With everyone eating outside for lunch the hallway was quiet and empty. Veronica watched for a moment as the ravenette wiped her face clean of the faux tears.

“That wasn’t very nice.”

“She wasn’t very nice,” was the reply, the girl not missing a beat or even having to question what Veronica meant, she fiddled with her bag and books, not looking at the blonde.

“Had it been anyone else I would’ve been upset,” Veronica continued nonchalantly.

The girl looked at her then with an amused quirk to her lips; “Had it been anyone else I wouldn’t have done it.”

The blonde grinned; “I’m Veronica.”

The returned grin did a lot to reassure Veronica that she was making the right decision; “I’m Harri. Harri Potter.”

“Harry?” Veronica asked with a raised eyebrow.

“It’s short for Harriet.”

As they walked down the hall side by side with no real destination in mind, though Harri seemed to be looking out for something she recognised and thus was subconsciously leading the way, Veronica felt the need to point something out while fishing for information;

“You know that little display back there isn’t going to help you in the long run.”

“Well then it’s a good thing I didn’t do it for that,” Harri answered with a mischievous smile.

“Then why’d you do it?” Veronica queried.

“For two reasons, I suppose” Harri began, as they stopped at her locker which was beside the Autoshop lab which was the only reason Harri found her way back to it. “The main reason was to get that twit off my back.”

Veronica snorted, “And the other?”

Harri hummed and closed her locker gently; “To make me look like a victim, I suppose the word is.”

Veronica narrowed her eyes in suspicious confusion, “Oh-kay, that’s not a great first impression. It won’t endear you to anyone. I have very little doubt that anyone here has the capability to feel sorry for you.”

Veronica’s mind was working overtime to make sense of the other girl’s actions. She trusted her instincts but she had learned to be suspicious of everything. Harri seemed to be very down to earth but Veronica had only just met the girl that day. Running through all the girl’s actions for the last hour or two, to the point the blonde’s mind began running in circles, she was startled from her analysis by boisterous laughing.

“The look on your face!” Harri laughed smiling, “Relax, Veronica. I know, or at least, have an idea of how they’ll treat me.”

“Then enlighten me, Little Miss Suffering, why did you do it?” Veronica sassed, still confused.

“My Godfather once told me; ‘judge a man, not by how he treats his equals, but by how he treats his inferiors’. There are things that this school doesn’t know about me yet. If I have my say they will never know these things, but I’m taking my chance to get to know people before these things come out,” she said with a solemn if determined expression.

This explanation made the PI side of Veronica itch to know what her new potential ally/friend was hiding but her level of respect for the girl rose to such an extent that the itch was quickly smothered. Because Veronica had been there, in a position where she had been abandoned by those she thought were her friends and she would’ve liked to have thought at the time like this slip of a girl in front of her. However, hindsight is often twenty- twenty, so Veronica simply smirked amusedly and said; “Paranoid much?”

“Hey, I just like to know who my friends are” Harri sniffed indignantly, holding her nose in the air in a pose she had copied from Draco Malfoy at his most irritating. The ridiculousness of the stiff pose held for a moment before both girls started giggling uncontrollably. Know your friends indeed!

“Wise words from your godfather though,” Veronica complimented when she had calmed down a bit.

“Yeah, he’s more intelligent than most people give him credit for,” Harri sighed happily, “even himself.”

“So, would you like to continue your tour of the school?” Veronica asked with a smile, after a lull in the conversation while Harri organised her locker.

“Yes, please!” Harri grinned, “I wasn’t kidding when I said Madison was a lousy guide. I have no idea how I’ve gotten around all day.”

As they walked off laughing to begin Harri’s tour anew, the girls shared another conspiratory smirk.

_Neptune High,_ they thought together, _let the games begin!_

* * *


	2. The Vow Of The Pinkie Promise

* * *

It had been a couple of weeks, nearly a month, since Harri had started at Neptune High and had that faithful meeting with one Veronica Mars and the transition into an American high school had been going somewhat smoothly so far. She had tested out of some of her classes, so there was a little bit of messiness with her schedule that had just been cleared up. But that wasn’t really enough to make her start feeling repentant for overdosing a little on some of those memory potions she used for study during the summer, she thought with a smirk. Her friendship with Veronica was getting stronger by the day as well. Veronica had introduced her to her own friends, Wallace and Mac and the trio had taken a day to show Harri most of the sites to see in Neptune. Harri had met her dad and her dog and went to her house to study. In return, Harri cooked for Veronica and her dad, helped her walk Backup and offered her house as an equally quiet place to study. They didn’t share secrets and only glossed over their pasts, but they got along very well and had a similar outlook on life. Well, so far anyway, they seemed to have a similar outlook. Even still, Harri had only recently found out a rather important well known fact about her new friend.

“So, you’re a Private Investigator?”

“That’s me,” Veronica chirped sarcastically.

“So, if you ever accuse me of something for a case you may be involved in, I shouldn’t be offended?” Harri asked casually, glancing at the blonde from her peripheral. Veronica gaped looking torn between insulted and ashamed. Harri laughed at her expression.

“Relax Veronica!” she giggled. “Seriously, you need to lighten up. I may not be happy about it if it ever does happen but I’ll understand why. It’s your job after all.”

Veronica looked at her new friend sceptically. No one was ever _not_ offended when someone was blundering their way into their private life and searching for things that were better left as the dark secrets they were. Even her current friends slash cohorts got more than a little insulted when she accused them of knowing something or holding back information. Never mind when she accused them of actually _doing_ something. Harri rolled her eyes at Veronica’s obvious disbelief.

“I’m serious! So long as you’re reasonable about it, I won’t mind,” she stated. When it looked like Veronica would argue, she was quick to follow up with; “By reasonable, I mean you give me evidence and reasons and motives for why you think I would be suspect in your ‘hypothetical case’. Don’t just come out and accuse me though. That won’t end well for either of us.”

If Veronica noticed the darkness of her warning, she chose not to comment on it, too preoccupied with examining Harri’s sincere tone and earnest face for any hint of a lie. Against her will, Veronica felt a bubble of hope build in her chest; a hope that maybe, just maybe, this friendship wouldn’t be ruined by her choice of extra-curricular work. She struggled to keep that hope down and dormant but somehow Harri saw her fight with herself.

“Here,” Harri said suddenly, holding out her pinkie finger with a determined glint in her eye. Surprised by the gesture and curious to see how else the raven could surprise her, Veronica pushed her inner battle to the side and linked her pinkie with Harri’s.

“I swear on all that I am, that if Veronica Mars should ever feel the need to question me for a case, I will tell the truth as I know it unless detrimental to my health and/or the health of my loved ones, the Mars Family included,” Harry intoned seriously.

“I swear on all that I am, that if I should ever need to suspect or question Harriet Potter for a case, I will come to her with solid evidence and be as honest and as understanding as possible at that time,” Veronica copied, wanting this trading of vows to be an equal and fair exchange. Then, to Veronica’s surprise, more words bubbled out of her throat in time with Harri’s voice.

“So mote it be.”

The girls felt a rush of energy flow through their joined fingers. Veronica looked up to see Harri’s eyes just as wide and wondering as hers. She also noted a little worry in the vibrant green eyes of her friend, but considering she wasn’t very fond of the word coincidence, Veronica wasn’t really surprised. Harri smiled weakly with a little courageous amount of humour;

“Be careful, Veronica. It’s not just me that will hold you to that.”

Taking back her still tingling hand, Veronica didn’t doubt that for a second. Harri, meanwhile, was making a valiant effort of talking herself out of panicking; an effort that seemed to be working the more she thought through the probable reasons for magic’s reaction, rather than all possible reasons for the reaction. Hermione could say whatever she liked about Harri’s paranoia; Harry knew there was a time and place for it. With the Dark Lord and murderer of her family dead, his loyal followers either, dead, dying or behind bars and Harri herself now living on another distant continent, Harri would like to think that this was neither the time nor the place for fear to cloud her judgement. So looking at it logically and thinking on it a moment longer, Harri came to the most plausible conclusion that Veronica may have been of squib lineage, having just enough magic to make potions or contribute to a vow. The two of them were probably committing themselves to the vow, what with how seriously they phrased their promises; and magic, a power that was rather partial to things like strong will, initiated the vow to make it binding. As it wasn’t an Unbreakable Vow, or any other promise with defined and terrible ‘or else’ consequences, if either of them were to break it, knowingly or not, they may have a string of bad luck or feel the pressure or sickening feeling of guilt. Admittance and forgiveness should clear that up, Harry thought relaxing a bit. And who knew, maybe the magic of the vow itself would stop either of them from breaking it in the first place.

Harri wilfully ignored that these were all just theories and began to smile somewhat happily and dig into her lunch, while Veronica continued to examine her hand, an awed, thoughtful expression remaining on her face. Wallace chose that moment to sit down at their table with his lunch tray. Looking between Veronica’s thoughtful examination of her hand and Harri’s chipper and relieved smile, he sighed.

“Do I even want to ask?”

“Oh, don’t worry your pretty little head about it, Wallace.” -Harri turned to him with a sweet smile and an even sweeter tone- “We’re just making girlie pacts and pinkie promises.”

Veronica coughed into the hand she was examining before turning to her lunch, while Wallace just gave Harri a dry stare.

“For some reason, I don’t believe you.”

The two girls laughed while Wallace shook his head. Inwardly, he was pleased to hear the sound, despite the fact that they were laughing at him. Veronica was a very serious person and he could count the number of times he had heard her genuinely laugh out loud on one hand but she really seemed to click with Harri. Harri was also nice to be around regardless of her rough and tumble day wear, and he was happy to say they had connected over her recent move to Neptune, as Wallace distinctly remembered when he first arrived. Wallace may not be able to judge character the way the two girls sitting beside him seemed to, but he liked to think that he’d be hard pressed to find two better friends.

Lunch passed quickly, in an easy haze of food, homework and talk of class and work. When the warning bell for the next class rang however, Harri was the first one standing.

“Well my friends, please excuse me while I go get my hands dirty in Autoshop!” Harri crowed in delight with a cheesy grin.

Harri had been looking forward to this elective since she had tested out of her other classes. Because she had no previous experience with mechanics, and also she suspected because she was a girl, the elective hadn’t been offered when she had initially registered with Neptune High. She had been somewhat peeved to realise this when she was given the list of electives to make up her new schedule but quickly grabbed the opportunity to work with her hands and learn something practical. Sirius had left his bike in her care after all, and while it was definitely not gathering dust in a garage, she was still a novice at actually looking after the machine. She was also fairly sure it would be a bad idea to take it to a mechanic before she knew for sure there was nothing truly out of place on it. The bike did fly after all.

Veronica greeted her excited grin with a more amused smile but Wallace just looked confused.

“Autoshop?”

“Yeah!”

“But you’re a girl.”

Harri mock gasped while Veronica stayed seated, even made herself more comfortable, to enjoy the show. There were days, Veronica had found, when Harri liked to run mental rings around people’s heads for a variety of reasons and it always made for great entertainment.

“Wallace,” Harri breathed affronted. “Are you being sexist?”

“What?” he asked, before realising what he had said and quickly beginning to backtrack. “No, no, I mean- I just thought- I didn’t think you were that type of girl-“

“What type of girl? A white girl? Wallace, are you being racist now?”

“What?! No! I just thought that a classy girl like-” Wallace was truly beginning to panic now.

“Oh, so it’s about class now, is it Wallace?” Harri cut him off again. “Because it so much better to be economically racist, is it?”

Wallace looked helplessly at Veronica, to find her biting her lip trying not to laugh. Frustrated, Wallace looked back at Harri, whose lips were twitching into a grin. Wallace shrugged violently in surrender, cursing his luck for finding good friends in a pair of girls who enjoyed mind games.

“You know what? I give up. Go do Autoshop. I don’t care.”

He instantly regretted his choice of words when he heard Harri gasp loudly again.

“You don’t care?! Don’t you love me anymore? God Wallace, what kind of heartless friend are you?!”

This was clearly too much for Veronica, who promptly burst into peals of laughter at Wallace’s stricken face. Wallace turned to Veronica’s shaking form and then back to Harri, who was smiling like a cat who’d eaten a particularly juicy canary.

“I hate you both,” he sulked.

Harri gave him a patronising smile; “That’s okay, Wallace. Veronica loves me. Don’t you, Veronica?”

“I do. I really do,” the blonde girl gasped, still giggling and trying to catch her breath. Harri smiled at the sight.

“Well, have fun in your next class. See you later!” Hari waved.

“Yeah, yeah, see you later,” Wallace grumbled, waiting for Veronica to get up as Harri walked off.

* * *


	3. Purring Potential

* * *

“Woah,” Felix muttered in surprise. “Yo, Weevil man, check out the new girl.”

Weevil looked up with Hector from putting their overalls on to see the tiny ebony haired white girl wander into the classroom, keeping to the walls in an attempt to stay out of the way. The three males had seen the new girl wandering the halls and sitting in class but only from a distance and they had never gotten a close up look at her. Add to the fact she seemed to be quite cosy with PI Mars, senior and junior, the not so law-abiding Weevil thought it best not to approach her and passed that order onto his boys. Today was the first day since she’d come to Neptune High that any of them really got a good look at her.

“She’s not the hottest chick goin’ but she’s cute,” Felix commented, seeing that he had his friends’ attention.

“A bit scruffy looking” Hector said unimpressed.

“Like you can talk, man” Weevil snorted.

Looking back at her, he couldn’t disagree with what either of his friends had pointed out. She looked nothing like the other girls in this school. Hell, she looked less put together than the girls from his neighbourhood.

“She’s not wearing make-up” he noted, watching as her eyes assessed everything in the room, sweeping across him and his friends every so often.

“What?!”

“Really?”

Felix and Hector both turned to blatantly stare at the little slip of a girl, who quirked an amused eyebrow and gave them a little wave. Felix numbly waved back not quite aware he was doing so and Hector was still examining her face, too dumbfounded by what he was seeing to notice her waving at them. Glancing over her figure again, Weevil finally recognised her stance and began to understand her ‘style’ of dress. On the average street she’d look ragamuffin enough to be by passed at a quick glance and her stance screamed that she was ready to either fight or fly. The very air that surrounded her said she was ready to get the hell out of Dodge. This brooked a more detailed observation. Weevil smirked.

“Let’s go say hi.”

His boys agreed with ready grins.

Swaggering over to the girl who had, rather impressively, remained unnoticed by the rest of the class, the three bikers stopped in front of her, almost crowding her and blocking her small stature from the view of the other people in the room. Seeming less than intimidated, the petite little thing only raised an eyebrow again to accompany the amused quirk of her lips and waited for them to speak.

Curiosity peaked, Weevil obligingly spoke with a leer; “I think you’re in the wrong class, chica. Are you lost?”

“Is this Autoshop?”

The bikers were momentarily stunned by the unfamiliar English accent that seemed to fall off her lips like honeycomb, sweet and crisp. Even after gathering himself, Weevil could do nothing more than nod. Her lips broadened into a smirk showing much more of her amusement and turning her expression mischievous. The boys would later realise and admit that they found the expression was rather attractive.

“Then I am definitely in the right place.”

It took them all a moment to grasp what she was saying and when they did, that one sentence threw the three boys for the loop. Scrambling to make sense of what was just said, Felix asked in a somewhat despondent tone;

“You’re joining Autoshop?”

“That’s the plan.”

“Bu- But, you’re a girl. A chica!”

She made a show of looking down at her chest, even going so far as to lift up her collar to look into her t-shirt, much to the boys’ surprise. She looked back up at them with a bemused smile.

“Yes, apparently I am. You know, you’re the second person to say that to me today. I thought it was fairly obvious, but I had to double check just to be sure.”

Flustered and frustrated, Felix turned to his friends; “Tell me this isn’t happening, yo!”

Hector just shook his head not really quite in the present, as his mind kept replaying the girl’s actions in his mind’s eye repeatedly. Weevil wasn’t much better, looking at her like she was an exotic animal he’d never had the chance to see before, only absently acknowledging Felix’ demand with a glance.

The raven’s bemused expression became amused as she asked; “What’s the worry, boys? Afraid I’ll start telling you what to do?”

The challenge brought Weevil back to earth and he snorted; “Ha! Not a chance, chica.”

“Oh really? I think you’d enjoy it.”

“Sweetheart, the only time I’m interested in hearing a woman speak to me like that is when she’s riding my big ole’ hog. But then it’s less actual words and more ‘oohs’ and ‘ahs’, you know?”

Weevil would admit, if only to himself, that the little chica in front of him may not have deserved that kind of description thrown at her. She hadn’t actually done anything to insult any of them in anyway yet, which was sadly a first where the bikers were concerned. Many of the female persuasion who were not used to the PCH gang tended to be intimidated being confronted by just one of them, never mind three. This included girls from their side of the tracks as well. Their first instinct was to lash out verbally and it had gotten to the point where comments from strange women about his gang, his clothes and his heritage tended to flow over him like water. Meeting someone who was being civil to the point of playfulness was unusual.

Which was the reason he was going to use to justify the comment, in the unlikely event that he was asked. He was rather uncomfortable being thrown off his game by a girl that barely reached his nose in height. That being said, he was surprised to find that, instead of seeing her face pinch in disgust at his words, her rich green eyes lit up and her smile turned positively wicked. The room seemed to heat and the world around her became fuzzy, pulling her into sharp clarity. Felix and Hector had the presence of mind to step back at the change, but Weevil was enraptured.

“It seems we have something in common then,” she purred with a coy tilt of her head.

“Oh yeah, what’s that?” Weevil grunted, trying desperately to keep up appearances. She smiled knowingly and began to circle him as she spoke, his boys moving aside to make room for her circuit, also enraptured in the sight of her now.

“The only time I’m really interested in listening to what a man has to say, is when he’s at my feet. Just where I like them. And he is asking, praying, begging for me to show, move, taste, touch,” she stopped at his shoulder.

“Just that little-”

She leaned into him.

“Bit-”

She breathed into his ear.

“ _More._ ”

Weevil would later deny that he had any physical reaction at all to the little minx, shivering, gulping or otherwise. Felix and Hector would shamelessly declare just the opposite. In fact, they would regal the other members of the PCH gang with the story of the little English girl who just had to speak to make you hot under the collar. They also sent Weevil a number of jealous glares that he had been the object of this attention, if only for a moment.

But then the moment was over.

“Lucky for all of us, I’m not here to tell you what to do or even listen to you do the same. I’m here to learn how to fix and improve my machines when I need to,” she chirped with a playful smirk as she deftly hefted herself onto the clear worktop they had corralled her against behind her.

The boys blinked at the abrupt change, once again left stumbling to keep up with the little chica. Her eyes flickered to something behind their bulky forms and it was the only thing that stopped Weevil from opening his mouth and making a fool of himself, praying his boys noticed the same thing.

Some divine being must have been listening because though Felix opened his mouth, their little party was interrupted before he could say anything and jolted Hector out of his stupor, something he seemed rather embarrassed by.

“All right boys, step away from the lady,” their instructor rumbled from his chest. “I know she’s fascinating but we have plenty of them at this school, I can assure you.”

Shuffling away, Weevil couldn’t help but listen in as ‘The Lady’ reassured their instructor that “yes, this is the class I want to do” and “no, I don’t mind some heavy lifting or getting my hands dirty”. A wrench slipped through Hector’s fingers when she said that, proving that he could help but listen in either. Felix was the worst of them, blatantly staring at the two having the discussion. This backfired on him, however, when their instructor turned and pointed at their little trio and caught Felix in the act.

 _Well, this will definitely make a change,_ Weevil thought as the two began to walk over to their room, seemingly equally amused at Felix’ pinked cheeks. Weevil fought to hide his own smirk of amusement, because leader or no, Felix would let him have it for not showing his ‘support’. Shaking his head to rid him of his amusement and thoughts, he caught his friends’ attention and they turned as one to face the new student and their instructor;

“Gentlemen, this here is Harriet Potter. Ms. Potter, this is Eli Navarro, Felix Toombs and Hector Cortez. Ignoring their intimidating figures and thick skulls, they’re three of my best students and can find their way around nearly any machine you hand them. Which, I’m sure has nothing to do with their extra-curricular activities,” he commented with a shrewd look, which prompted the appearance of three angelic faces in return. Both the newly named Harriet and their instructor shared a glance and a snort at the ridiculously unbelievable expressions. Clearing his throat, the instructor gestured to Harri and continued.

“Gentleman, I would like you to help Ms. Potter here learn the ropes. She’s eager to learn and I know you can have some measure of patience between you when desired. I hope to see you all working well together.”

The gathered students nodded and the instructor graced them with an approving smile before turning back to Harriet; “Have you got some overalls?”

She nodded again in confirmation, he quirked a smile again; “Good, impressive even. Go grab them and you can help the boys with their current project.”

He turned to the rest of the class to walk around and help those who needed it. Harriet turned as well and walked a step before pausing and turning back. Seeing she still had the boys’ complete attention she smile kindly;

“Call me Harry. I look forward to working with you.”

Still somewhat stunned and unfamiliar with the civil treatment they were receiving; they glanced at each other briefly, trying to soften their expressions instead of actually smiling. They hadn’t done that anywhere but at home in years. Turning back to see a slightly hopeful expression, they decided to play it by ear and hope for the best. They didn’t want to sully her civility but they had no idea how else to act other than how they already did.

“Weevil. We’ll take care of you chica,” he replied with a playful wink.

“Felix. With us you’ll be tuning your ride in no time!” he exclaimed with two thumbs up.

“Hector. It should be fun, no?” he suggested, quirking both his eyebrow and his lips.

Her hope smile turned satisfied and happy. She nodded again and trotted off out the door into the hallway to the lockers beside the door. She returned quickly a moment or two later with a navy jumpsuit and an excited smile. As she joined them, the group jumped right in and got to work.

Discussing it later, the three bikers would agree on a number of things. Their instructor was wrong. Harry wasn’t like any other girl at their school, save for maybe the current version of Veronica Mars but that was debatable. They caught a few more glimpses of the sultry playfulness throughout the class but she mostly provided them with kindness and witty comebacks. She joked and chatted with them like they were people, not criminals or Latinos or something she scuffed her shoe on. Harry enjoyed learning about mechanics and learning from them and picked things up really quickly. She really was there for the class, rather than a different less relevant reason that would see other students fail the class. Harry had their protection. She was so uncaring of class or race or even their hinted at criminal records, caring only that they were teaching her and joking with her that the boys felt it was their duty to repay her kindness. They knew no better way than to give her their protection. Anyone silly enough to try and mess with her would go through them first. Most importantly however, the main point that had all three grinning in anticipation was that, they were really looking forward to getting to know Harry better.

* * *


End file.
